December 09, 2014

Apple Granted 33 Patents Today Covering a 3D iPhone UI & More

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 33 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's live 3D user interface designed for iDevices like the iPhone. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Apple Granted Patent for a Sensor Based 3D User Interface Environment

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to computer generated graphical user interfaces. More specifically, the patent covers a three-dimensional ("3D") display environment for iDevices like an iPhone or iPad. It's a 3D environment that uses orientation data from one or more onboard sensors to automatically determine and display a perspective projection of the 3D display environment based on the orientation data without the user physically interacting with (e.g., touching) the display.

A rumor recently surfaced that pointed to Apple working on a 3D display. Whether that relates to a full blown 3D user interface is unknown at this time.

Patently Apple originally covered Apple's initial patent application for this invention back in January 2012 under the title "Apple is paving the Way for a new 3D GUI for iOS Devices." See our original report for more graphics and greater details on this invention which covers shifting camera views, snap-to UI features, multiple GPUs and a 3D graphics rendering engine.The Multiple GPUs are already in place.

Apple credits Patrick Piemonte as the sole inventor of granted patent 8,907,943 which was originally filed in Q3 2010 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. While Piemonte worked at Apple he worked on Core Location, the iOS inertial sensor framework known as Core Motion, 3D graphics and 3D Maps features like Flyover, 3D building rendering and components that found their way into Apple Watch.

Apple Granted Four Design Patents Today

Apple was granted four design patents today. The first covers their older Cinema Display (D719,158) which has since been replaced with their new Thunderbolt Display.

A Note for Tech Sites Covering our Report:We ask tech sites covering our report to kindly limit the use of our graphics to one image. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation.

Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site:Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 8pm MST and sporadically on the weekend.